Electric Radio Controlled Boats – Basically How They Work
Electric radio controlled boats come in various sizes and are controlled by a radio system which includes a transmitter and a receiver which is installed in the boat. The transmitter is usually a stick type or a gun type that you hold and control with your fingers. The receiver that is mounted inside the RC Boat receives and processes the signals from the hand held transmitter and sends them to the servos which tell the motor to rotate, accelerate, slow down and turn left or right.
The servos (motors) are usually powered by NiCd (nickel-cadmium batteries) or NiMH (nickel-metal hydride batteries) and operate from 4.8 volts to 6 volts DC from a 4 or 5 cell battery. Run times vary from 5-10 minutes at 20-25 MPH to 1 or 2 hours depending on how many motors and battery packs your are running. Many boats have enough space to accommodate 2 batteries.
Electric radio controlled boats are very quiet compared to the gas or nitro models but do not have the same top end speed. Before buying one you should check with your local bylaws to see where you can run your boat. Most of the electric RC boats can be run in most areas because they are quiet and don not disrupt other people in the area.
For some reason many people have the impression that it’s hard to build a radio controlled boat and get started in the hobby. If this tends to turn you off because you are not particularly mechanically inclined then buy an RTR or (ready to run) boat. These are boats that you can buy that are ready to go right out of the box. It doesn’t get much easier than that. For those that don’t like to tinker around and frankly don’t have the time to then an RTR boat is probably a great choice for them.